Actress

Actress, activist and Democrat, Susan Sarandon is equally dedicated in each role. Born into a New York Catholic family, Sarandon, the eldest of nine, said she had trouble from the very beginning with the concept of original sin. “I always felt I had an overabundance of it,” she said. 

When she was cast in the hit movie Bull Durham, Sarandon entered the big leagues. She followed up with Lorenzo’s Oil and Thelma and Louise, and can pretty much choose her projects because of it. She has been nominated for an Academy Award three times, and is planning to star in a sequel to Thelma and Louise. 

She subsequently used her celebrity status to push for causes in which she believed. And they are legion. On subjects such as the rain forests, wildlife preservation, AIDS awareness, gay-bashing and homelessness, Sarandon makes her stand. 

“I don’t want to be dragged out all the time to get the press to events,” she told one interviewer. “But the fact is they don’t want to know about the issue unless you drag some face out there.” 

Sarandon and her partner, Tim Robbins, have three children. “Just trying to keep myself in nannies is impossible,” she said.